New era for Lafayette's women's team is off and running

Nolan brings 33 years of experience to Leopards program.

Dianne Nolan was introduced as the new head women's basketball coach… (Kevin Mingora, TMC )

November 10, 2010|By Tom Housenick, OF THE MORNING CALL

Dianne Nolan has spent 33 years as a Division I women's basketball head coach and several years on the college coaching ladder.

But she had never been to Lafayette. At least not in daylight (Nolan brought her Fairfield team to Easton for a night game in 1997).

That changed last spring when Nolan went to College Hill after she expressed interest in Lafayette's vacancy — as well as those in two other programs.

"I came here a day before [I was going to meet with school officials]," Nolan recalled. "I just walked around myself and really fell in love with the place.

"After meeting the players, I felt like this is the type of student-athlete I want to be associated with. This is a place I would want to recruit my sons to come to school."

Lafayette administration felt the same way about Nolan, who was hired on April 20 to replace Tammy Smith.

After committing to daily, self-supervised workouts in August and knowingly getting involved in a complete transformation of how they were going to play the game, the Leopards players found out earlier this fall if they had the same love for their new coach.

So far, it's been a lovefest.

"It's so much fun for everyone," senior captain Lauren Jackson said. "We can't hold onto the past. This is a new system and we can learn from the past, but now we've got to embrace this.

"The first couple of days were hard and challenging, because it was so many drills and going back to the basics. But I think we're now getting the real specifics of the game, situational things, so we're progressing nicely."

The test will come in the non-league schedule when it becomes evident that roles of the veterans have changed. The Leopards have five upperclassmen who started most of last year.

That won't be the case beginning with Sunday's season opener against visiting Bryant.

In addition to Jackson, seniors LaKeisha Wright and Liz Virgin are captains who are being asked to fill different roles in Nolan's uptempo style.

For some returnees, minutes will be reduced. For others, they will be increased. For almost all, there will be change. Nolan believes it all is for the best.

"I coach like my personality," she admitted. "I'm a fast talker. I use my hands all the time. I think this is a fun way to play and a lot of people get to play."

Nolan joked Wednesday night that she will be rivaling Lafayette men's coach Fran O'Hanlon in the number of substitutions in a game.

The fact that the women's team can have enough to substitute freely is a big step forward.

"That's the biggest change, the depth on our team," Jackson said. "You can look on the bench and bring someone in and not lose anything."

Lafayette struggled through a 6-23 season in 2009-10. It was the 12th consecutive losing season for the Leopards. The 1997-98 season was the last time they were better than .500 overall (15-13) and in the Patriot League (7-5).

Nolan doesn't expect that to change overnight, but she doesn't think it will be long before the program reverses direction.

"I've coached teams in the past that were given no shot of winning," she said. "I know Lehigh and American are quality teams. For us to be in the same conversation is a stretch.

"But we believe we can pull from our talent pool and compete with everyone."

Lafayette won't have junior forward Alex Serowoky for another year. She tore an ACL 10 minutes into the team's first practice.

Outlook: If energy and smiles account for anything, the Leopards will be vastly improved. If the love for a new system translates to points on the scoreboard, they will be scoring in bunches. Realistically, they should be better. They may not be Patriot League title contenders right away, but Nolan is a proven winner so it shouldn't be long.